Empathy and hesitation
by Lucarai
Summary: as the first Yuki-Otoko to ever attend Yokai academy, Luca Kyokan has a lot to learn and deal with, but how will mizore deal with the fact that Luca going to Yokai completely go against her teachings?
1. Chapter 1

**Empathy and Hesitation**

Author's note: ok everyone know I haven't been writing any at all for a long time, due to loss of files and Microsoft office, but point is I'm back and kicking off a new story, but if you don't like mine, go read Maddog170's story, it's a good one, now on to the first chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Rosario Vampire, if I did this would be capu3, ok?

Chapter 1

"You'll need to fill out these forms and sign here, and you'll be on your way." Said an older woman handing the forms to Luca. "If you have any questions, please see me at the booth."

Luca only nodded to her statement as she walked away. Luca Kyokan was a young Yuki-Otoko or snow boy in simpler terms. He wore faded blue jeans with a black silk hoodie covering his upper body, which strangely fitted his snow white skin and white mixed with blue hair. At the moment he is filling out forms to move to a new school he had been invited to, Yokai Academy.

The letter simply stated that they would be honored to have him as their first Yuki-Otoko to attend the school. As he completed the form and handed it to the older woman at the booth, he sat back down in his chair and looked out the office window, gazing at the Italian café down the street.

Before he even walked in the office, he had been quick to grab a cold coffee from said place, one of the few things he had enjoyed in this small town. All his life since the small age of seven, he had lived alone in this town, after his father had died nine years earlier.

He remembers why his father left the place he once called home, mainly because of the traditions that would of caused young Luca to be hounded by the girls of the village to be his mate. Luckily, his father took him from such a cruel fate, and even though he still had full ownership of his family home in the snow village, he never felt the need to return.

Home. The word had different meanings to him, as he never stayed in one place for long, as so he wouldn't come attached to anyone, not like anybody would have cared to, many of his co-workers said that he was a robot at times. Seeing that the statement didn't faze him only proved it more, they would say.

"Sir, the bus is here to pick you up, please, take these forms with you and hand them to your homeroom teacher when you get there" The older woman at the booth stated, interrupting his train of thought.

He stood up, took the forms and bowed in simple respect as thanks for helping him. The older woman simply laughed and said that there was no need to be formality, as she was a simple office-worker. After that he simply nodded and walked out to the bus.

"Hey kid, the headmaster had me drive all the way out here to pick you up, so in case you've got other business, we need to move" the shady bus-driver stated, giving his infamous glare and laugh. To this, once more, Luca simply nodded and took his bag and himself to the back; slowly closing his eyes do to the one thing he could say he did often, sleep.

ABOUT AN HOUR LATER

Luca woke up to see a huge building in the distance, with a path made up of a graveyard leading to it. He took his bag and simply waved to the bus driver as thanks for getting him here. He looked at his form, and it stated that his homeroom teacher was Miss Nekonome, a cat-lady.

As he walked up to the entrance of the school, he saw many students walking to class, but one group stood out from the rest. He saw a brown haired boy with brown eyes in the same outfit as most students wore, walking along with a pink haired girl blushing at his words, and a blue haired woman fighting with a child in a witch hat, which to a point he found humor. Looking at the group he could tell that they were different from the rest but the main thing about it wa- what? There was a purple haired girl stalking the group, yet she seemed to have a familiar look, and that was what worried him.

He hid behind a tree and got a closer inspection on the stalker, and realized quickly that she was Yuki-Onna. This wasn't good. All his life he remembered his father telling him to watch for them, as many were still trying to get him to return to the village and make him do his heritagal duty, marrying one of the women of the snow village.

Yet as he looked on this girl, she seemed how you say; different from the ones he met. For one she wasn't wearing a fake smile, and from her gaze point, she had something for the brown headed boy, as now that he thought about it, the whole group seemed to.

He got closer to hear what they were talking about. "So what is the plan today after Miss Nekonome's class guys?" the young witch had asked the rest of them. Wait; did she say Miss Nekonome's class? That could only mean…

Wait, that meant he had found somebody who knew where his class was, however, this also meant that he would have to approach them, and socializing was not his best subject. He could either ask them, or hope for the best and look around.

He decided against his better judgment to ask them, and in case it went down-hill, to 'wing' it.

He caught up with the group of friends, seeing that now the Yuki-Onna was openly with them. He approached the guy first. "Um, hi, I'm Luca, this is my first day here, do you know where Miss Nekonome's class is?" he asked in his low southern voice, hoping not to look like an idiot.

To his surprise, the boy simply put his hand out and stated "of course, that's our class to, I'm Tsukune, and this is Moka, Kurumu, Yukari, and of course Mizore." They all said hi in their own ways, Moka and Kurumu's being full of energy, while Yukari got closer to inspect him, and Mizore simply waved. He shook Tsukune's hand and nodded

"What kind of monster are you? You look familiar to me..." Yukari asked, walking closer with every word. "Yukari, that's rude, and we aren't supposed to tell each other what monsters we are" Kurumu said in an irritated voice, like a sister would, in his opinion "No, it's fine I'm just a simple Yuki-Otoko" Luca stated, trying to hold off an argument.

The rest of the group all looked at Mizore, who looked troubled at this statement. Now at this point he was wondering what he said to upset them. "Is there a problem with my race?" he asked only to be answered by silence.

Just right before he could ask another question, Mizore simply asked "How did you convince the Snow Priestess to let you out of the village?" This was one of the questions he had hoped to be avoiding, but as cover he simply stated "I have lived in the human world all my life, so she doesn't have any say where I go or what I do." Luca stated in defense.

"Hey now, we just met the guy, can't we leave him be until after we get to know him a little bit?" Tsukune said, noticing the growing tension between the snow people. "Fine by me" was all Luca would give as a reply. Mizore walked closer to Tsukune and nodded.

"All right then let's get to class quickly, or we'll be late" Tsukune said in a relieved tone, scratching the back of his head and started walking back to the academy, all the girls but Mizore in tow. She gave a quick stare to Luca, and then caught up with Tsukune and the others.

'Well that could have gone better' was the only words Luca could have thought of to sum up the whole encounter. After that he quickly ran to catch up with the group, hoping not to lose his only source of information about the whole school.

Upon walking into class with the others, Luca walked over to who he assumed was Miss Nekonome and gave her his forms. Once she glanced over it she stood up and told him to stand where everyone could see him, where to he did as told.

"Class this is Luca Kyokan, he's the first Yuki-Otoko to be able to come to Yokai Academy, so please make him feel welcomed and maybe more of his kind will be able to attend!" Miss Nekonome stated to the classroom.

They were few whispers here and there about the reasons why he was the first to ever attend Yokai, but he didn't care in the slightest, for he didn't plan on getting to know or care about any of the people in this school, so why should he care what they thought of him. He went to the second farthest row and took a seat.

A FEW PERIODS LATER

It was lunchtime for the school, so Luca took the time to go his room and get set up, all while eating his delicious sesame chicken. By the time he completed his room, the only major changes were his laptop and his Father's book collection staked in his dressers.

Luca threw away his garbage from lunch and walked to his next class: math. It wasn't the subject that scared him, but the rumors he was hearing about the teacher was what really scared him.

When he got to the class everything seemed normal despite her *cough cough* 'unique' attire. The class was going on normal until the unexpected struck. He expected that that every class would have some study guides for him to understand the current lessons, but the way Mrs. Kagome gave him his guide was, special to say the least.

FLASHBACK

Mrs. Kagome was sitting in her desk, grading papers after today's quiz, when Luca approached her.

"Mrs. Kagome" Luca stated, catching her attention. "My my, I haven't seen you here before, my guess is you're the Yuki-Otoko?" Mrs. Kagome asked with an innocent smile.

"Yes mum, I was told that you would have a study guide for me, so I came to get it for studying tonight"

"Well then, I have it right here" she stood up and bent over to grab it out of her lower drawer, which gave Luca a fine sight of her rear, which he shoved off.

While handing him the paper, she told him "if you need any help with studying mister?" "Luca, Luca Kyokan ma'am" was what he answered, feeling rude for not telling her earlier. "Well, mister Kyokan, if you ever, EVER, need tutoring with math, I'll be sure to help you after school" she told him, getting closer with every step. "I've been told that the Yuki-Otoko race was nothing but, mm, fine men, and it seems I wasn't lied to." She said, breast lying on his chest area.

It wasn't that he was offended by what she said; it was what she was DOING the whole time. "I will, uh, keep that in mind, Mrs. Kagome, I should be getting to my dorm, I still have some unpacking to do." Luca said in a worried tone. He did not like where this was going.

She laughed and wished him a good sleep, and told him she was eager to see him in class tomorrow. When he closed the door, he was so concentrated on getting back to his room that he didn't realize the person walking down the hall.

FLASHBACK END

"I really need to finish the rest of my-" he was cut off when he head-butted into Kurumu. "What the hell was that for?" Kurumu cursed, rubbing her head. "Shit, I'm sorry, I was just hurrying to my room, got things to do" Luca apologized, offering her his hand to her.

She ignored his offer and stood up. "Oh, it's you, Luca right?"

"Yea"

"Well, wanna walk with me back to the dorms?"

"I don't see why not"

10 MINUTES LATER

"So Mizore always told us they never let the men in their village without a woman with them, how did you end up living in the human world?" Kurumu asked, trying to make conversation.

"I used to live in the snow village when I was younger, but my father and I left before I had many memories. About five years after we moved he died and I was alone. I could have gone back to the village, but I decided to stay in the human world, after all I don't think my father would have liked it, me going back to the village after he died." Luca was explaining.

"Well how did you end up here?" was Kurumu's next question.

"I was offered to come here a month ago, I spent that time getting ready to come here, and here I am now" is all that Luca gave as his answer.

"Seems like you lived a boring life"

"Better boring than dead"

To this Kurumu stopped walking and looked him in the eyes, to which he gave a blank stare. "Why are you giving simple answers?"

"Why do you want to know more, you just met me this morning?" was his counter argument. She didn't give him an answer.

After a long moment of silent walking, they were at the split to the boy's and girl's rooms, Kurumu looked at Luca and asked "So which club are you joining tomorrow?"

"Is it required?"

"Yea"

To this he sighed, realizing he would have to work with people, no matter what. "Well what is there?"

"Well most of the clubs aren't for human world dwellers, but I'm in the newspaper club, and we accept anybody, how about you give that a try tomorrow?"

"I'll think about it."

"That's all I ask." Then she jogged to the girl's dorm, closing the door behind her and leaving Luca to his thoughts. The newspaper club didn't sound too bad, hell; he worked for a newspaper company for a while, so at least he could say he had some experience.

He walked to his room and unlocked it, lying all his materials down and walked into the bathroom. His turquoise eyes were slightly red from lack of sleep, and his hair was a mess. He reached into his sink cabinet and grabbed a towel, layed it on his towel seat and turned the water all cold, readying a shower.

He took off his black hoodie, revealing a black muscle shirt with the words 'lonely island' in a dark blue color. He took the rest of his clothes off, and minus the hoodie he threw them in his dirty clothes basket, hopping into the shower.

After he finished cleaning himself, he turned off the water and grabbed the towel, drying his body off with it. He dressed himself in a white tank top and grabbed grey sweat pants as pajamas.

He layed there in his bed, thinking about how this school would work for him. In the end, he decided it wouldn't hurt to try and be friendly with Kurumu's group; after all he would most likely be working with them. He layed over, letting his worries be taken over by sleep, slowly closing his eyes, for he knew he would need it for tomorrow.

Ok, so how was it? I know that this first chapter was pretty boring, but I needed something to work with, and this is just what I needed. Also, from now on it won't be third person; we will see the rest of the story through Luca's eyes, and sometimes through other characters, I will accept three other ocs, I need one female and two males at least for all of it to work with more characters in the story, but I don't have to have it

Read it

Review it

Just no flames please.

Lucarai, out.


	2. Chapter 2

Empathy and Hesitation  
Authors note: thank Mad-Dog170 for showing me to upload without the use of a computer, and I'm sorry for the wait.  
TheRightWayAgain:go die in a hole  
Mad-Dog170: thanks bro  
Shadow man 747: I think u need a lesson in biology  
Chapter 2  
"Damn it, where is the button?" Luca groaned. He hit the alarm clock, silencing it. As he crawled out of bed, he grabbed his favorite hoodie, and changed into his usual attire, and put two white life-savers in his pocket.  
After closing his door he walked down the dorm-way to the grounds, since he had some time before school started. Looking around, the one thing that had caught his attention was the forest, so he decided to walk through there.  
Walking through the forest, he stumbled across a cliff, showing off the Red Sea. He went to the ledge and just sat there, content in doing just that. It was only a few minutes into his gaze he heard arguing behind him.  
"You know they say the reason they keep the Yuki-Otako in the village is said to be due to there amazing powers?" He heard a voice speak. So this was what it was like to be talked about? Maybe it would keep people away from him, at least.  
"Well if that's true, then why do you think he's here? Do you think he could be trouble?" Another voice was whispering.  
Luca didn't like where the conversation was leading, especially since they were walking in his direction. He got up from the cliff and started walking the long way back to the academy, when he heard a shout behind him.  
"Well speak of the devil himself, the bastard is walking on the old path boss!" The first voice yelled, pointing in his direction. Luca turned around to look at the group. He saw three young males in uniform staring at him.  
The one in the middle stood out the most though. He had brown hair with a strand sticking out over his forehead, and he was pretty tall compared to his companions. He and his little group started walking towards Luca.  
"So your the Yuki-otako everyone is going on about, huh?" The middle one spoke. He had authority and an arrogance to his voice, was one of the main things he noticed about the guy.  
After his little statement, his group, circled him, sizing him up was his best best guess. To this Luca grabbed into his pocket and grabbed one of his life-savers."What kinda candy is that?" There "leader" asked him.  
"No flavor, really, just medicine put into this form, kinda like an equivalent to a Yuki-onna's lollipop." Luca replied to the stranger, circling the Candy in his mouth.  
"Is that so? Well mister...?"  
"Luca. Luca Kyokan."  
"Well Luca, everyone wants to know, what makes your kind so damn special that the WOMEN keep you all to there selves?" He questioned.  
"My guess is because there's less of us, that's my best guess."was what Luca replied. This guy was digging for information, and he didn't like it at all. "Who are you anyway?"  
" Right, the names Saizo Koymia."  
"What do you want from me anyway?" Luca asked in a threatening manner.  
"You got guts, I like that. Let me get to the point, people might start talking about your strength, but I know your a weakling, so I wanna prove it, by letting these two handle you." Saizo stated, stepping back to let his underlings fight.  
"Your funeral." Was Luca's only reply, not wanting to talk his way out or anything of the sort, just bash these fuckers down and head to hone room.  
The first one to jump him transformed into a beast-like human, and charged him. Luca jumped on top of the thing and pointed his fist at his enemy's spine. He shot two ice shards into it, effectively crippling it. "Why you little snow-dick, Ill cut you open!"  
The second one shouted transforming into a porcupine with steel pins on his back. "Shit, this may be a problem, if he can do what I thi-" Luca was cut off by the pins being shot in his direction, to which he barely countered by building a wall of ice, blocking the needles, but many partially broke through it.  
He looked up, only to see his enemy coming over the ice wall, razor claws closing in on him. Luca countered with his own ice claws, barely blocking the attack.  
"Not bad, pretty boy, but you'll have to do better than that!" The porcupine shouted, withdrawing from Luca."Will this do?" Was Luca's reply, bringing up a cold storm, blinding his enemy."Where are ya, you little fucker!" The porcupine shouted, covering his eyes from the snowstorm.  
He then saw ice shards pass barely from his head, and a figure running at him."  
Got you now, ya bitch!"  
The porcupine sunk his claws into the target, but instead of blood all he got was broken ice. "What the-" was all he could say before feeling ice surround his body.  
Luca appeared before him, and while his enemy threw many curses at him, he used his hand to completely freeze him over, and stopped the snowstorm.  
"Well done, but do you think you've won, after all, I'm still here." Saizo said, clapping while walking towards Luca. "If you want to die, then I won't stop you"  
" I would hold that tongue, after all, I have the advantage" Saizo began to transform into a large green ogre, with razor sharp teeth and a crazy tongue.  
"Look who's talking about tongues, yours is so long you could probably lick your pussy with it ." Luca insulted, to which Saizo only laughed.  
"Say what you want, everybody knows ice doesn't affect ogres at all, so your screwed!" Saizo then came by Luca's side, and kicked him down, and punching him a feet feet away from his orignal position.  
"You know, there was one question you forgot to ask, Saizo."  
"Oh yeah, and what might that be?"  
"What's the difference between a Yuki-onna and Yuki-otako?"  
"Who cares about that!?" Saizo then swung his arm down towards Luca, only for for it to be caught and dig him in the ground a little.  
"What? How could you block my attack?"  
"That's the difference, Saizo, is that the males have what we call abominable 'snowman strength', so I don't need my ice powers to beat you."  
Luca then twisted his arm, then throwing him into a tree. Saizo slowly got up after this, panting while leaning on his knees. "Good to see you've got fight in you, it will make it all the more fun to kill you!" Saizo then tackled Luca, sliding them both on the ground near the edge of the cliff.  
MIZORE'S POV  
SWISH, THUD, BOOM, was the sounds that woke up Mizore this early in the morning. She looked outside her mirror and saw a snow blizzard occurring near the cliff.  
"What's that jackass doing?" Was Mizore's immediate thoughts.  
It didn't take a genius to realize that type of attack was his doing, since they were the only ones here who could possibly do such a feat.  
It woke up her friends, along with other students as well. She gathered them together, and headed to the scene of the fight. She may not care much for Luca, but that was no reason to let him die.  
As they raced threw the forest, she noticed the blizzard dying down. It meant either two things, he's dead or he stopped it himself. Non the less they were gonna see what was happening. "Yo, Mizore!" Her rival and friend, Kurumu yelled. "What?"  
" What can we expect from this Luca guy, besides what we know about you?"  
She herself was wondering this. His kind's power differed, from strength to speed, but it was impossible to tell his just by looking at him.  
"Hard to say, there special powers are different."  
"Ah"  
"We're here guys, look!" Tsukune yelled, pointing at a struggle near the edge of the cliff. At closer inspection, it was Luca fighting Saizo, each rapidly attacking each other.  
How was he blocking countering those attacks though, even she would be slaughtered by an ogre like Saizo, unless...  
"It's strength."  
"What?" The group asked.  
"His special power is super strength, called abominable strength by most."  
They were both bloody, and Saizo had landed gashes on Luca's head, while he himself was hurt severely all over. After awhile, they both clashed, Luca by a kick and Saizo by a punch, sending each other back a few yards.  
"Luca! What the hell are you doing fighting someone like him! He can kill you!" Kurumu screamed, trying to grab his attention.  
LUCA'S POV  
He heard Kurumu's voice yelling at him, and he looked back and saw there whole group was there, watching the fight. He turned around and looked at his enemy. He knew they were both spent, so he knew the next shot decide it.  
"Ready to end this?" Luca asked him, standing battle ready.  
"Time to die, worm!" Saizo yelled, charging.  
Luca used. A gust of icy wind to launch him towards Saizo, where his knee went through his gut, causing him to puke up blood. After a few seconds Luca landed, and Saizo fell beside him.  
Luca felt a small smile creep up on him and he stated "I win", then blacked out.  
Ok, how was it? I wanted to keep it realistic, since everyone knows that a yuki-onna would be beaten by an ogre, I needed a equalizer, and this was what it was.  
Love it  
Review it  
Lucarai, out


	3. Chapter 3

Empathy and Hesitation  
Authors note: I was so tired last chapter that's the reason it was shorter, but this one should be longer  
Horace Pinker: is this Chode!?  
Mad-Dog170: thanks  
Shadow man 747: give it a rest  
Anyways, disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ROSARIO VAMPIRE, THERE WOULD BE ENGLISH GAMES BY NOW IF I DID!  
Chapter 3  
Bright white light was the first thing Luca saw waking up. He looked around and realized he was in the infirmary. "They probably took me here.." He thought, remembering the Newspaper Club coming to his little 'showdown'.  
How he got into that mess, he barely remembered, but barely cared, for that matter. He looked at his arm and saw a needle injecting medicine through his blood veins. He ripped it out. After controlling the blood pouring from his rash movement, he climbed out the window.  
After looking at his surroundings, he noticed he was only a book away from his dorm. He crawled to the ground, getting looks from other students, probably due to his current 'look'. Seeing hisself in a puddle was embarrassing to say the least. He had a small gash across his forehead, bruises all up his arms, and blood smeared in both places.  
"Should probably get cleaned up" Luca said to no one in particular, walking towards his dorm. After he got in he threw all but his hoodie away , and started scrubbing the blood off his body. This wasn't new to him, he had fought many people, it had been awhile though since he tasted his blood though.  
After he cleaned up, he trapped near white faded blue jeans with the bottoms slightly ripped up, and a black t-shirt, with a pair of white sneakers to top it off.  
He looked at the clock and realized that if have hurried, he could get to third period. He rushed out of his room, and ran into the academy.  
A FEW MINUTES LATER  
As he walked into class, people started staring at him, whispering about his bruises and small gash on his forehead. He looked around and found an open seat.  
"So, Mr. Kyokan, what is the reason you took so-" the male teacher cut off, finding an answer in his appearance."Please, take a seat Mr. Kyokan." The teacher told him, trying to ignore his minor wounds. At Yokai Academy, it wasn't unusual to come to class looking Ike you had a brush with death, but the fact that he wasn't bragging or even whining was what caught people off guard.  
As Luca sat down, he noticed that the Newspaper Club was all in this class, and he was sitting next to Tsukune. Speaking of which...  
"Tsukune"

"Tsukune"  
"Huh? Luca?"  
"I was told that you have to join a club here, and your club is accepting new people."  
To this, Tsukune sat up a little, and gave a smile."Yea, we are, but for you to join the club votes on it, wanna meet us in Mrs. Nekonome's class after school?" Tsukune asked with a smile. "Might as well, I'll be a little late though, gotta pick up missed work."  
Luca told him beforehand.  
Even if Luca didn't want to admit it, there little group was the only people here that he was familiar with, and less likely to kill him.  
"That's fine, it'll give us time to discuss it."  
"Meet you there then.  
AFTER SCHOOL  
Luca walked out of the last class he missed work in, and headed towards the Newspaper Club. As he got close to the door he heard voices. He decided to listen in.  
"Listen guys, I don't even know the guy yet, so I can't make a vote." He heard an unfamiliar voice state.  
"We always need new members, and his fight with Saizo shouldn't make a difference in the matter, it even gave us a hot story to write on! "Mystery kid beats lead bully Saizo!" And we even sold every copy!" He heard Yukari argue.  
"But do we really want to have that kind of person in the group? He's not the most love able person in the world." Mizore countered.  
"Seems I'm not very welcomed here.." Luca thought. He was use to it, that wasn't the issue, but he didn't want to cause a split in this club. He decided now was the time to make at move.  
Knock Knock. He heard a dead silence when knocked on the door. After 30 seconds of no movement, he was about to walk away when he heard the door open.  
"Sorry, we were just finishing our discussion, come in." Tsukune greeted him at the door, showing the way in.  
"Hiya, I'm the president of this club, just call me Gin." Gin offered his hand Luca. "Luca." He returned the greeting, shaking his hand.  
"Okay everyone, now since he's here, lets have a vote, who wants Luca in the Newspaper Club?"  
Immediately Yukari and Tsukune raised there hands.  
"All opposed?"  
Moka, Mizore, and Kurumu raised there hands in opposition.  
"Oh come on guys, give him a chance to at least bring up a reason why he should join!" Yukari yelled in there direction.  
"Well Luca, what do you have for us?" Gin asked him.  
"First, Kurumu if you asked me to consider joining last night, and all of a sudden you want me gone?" He asked, crossing his arms.  
"Well, he has a point there, at least give the man an answer." Gin told her.  
She looked at the whole group, then went into a deadly glare with Luca, who returned the favor. "I think that you would be bad for the group as a whole." She gritted to her teeth.  
"Fine, well here's what I have to 'offer'. During my time in the human world I worked as a photographer for a big paper, to which I was able to get good money for three years, until I had to leave for personal reasons." Luca was explaining. "But I know where I'm not wanted, so I might as well leave." He headed for the door.  
"Wait! Please Luca, just listen to us, Gin, do something!" Tsukune begged. "Fine, how about this? He'll work with me for scoops for a month, and then we will decide after that, deal?" Gin said, causing silence across the room.  
"I say give him a chance, you guys won't even see much of him, and we need someone to watch Gin anyways." Yukari told them.  
"What's not to say that he is just as bad ?" Mizore mused. She looked Luca in the eyes and had a stare down with each other. Slowly, step by step, they walked towards each other until in close enough to breath each other' s breath, not blinking.  
"Before I forget, what did I ever do to you?" He asked her.  
"By leaving the village and never coming back, you made another girl into an arranged marriage, and I can't say I respect that." She responded.  
"Well excuse me for respecting my father's dying wish." He countered.  
"Who was your father anyway? Why would you leave the village? Where you could of had anyone there you wanted, I don't understand."  
"He wouldn't speak much of it, but he said it was in my best interests. That's all I'm gonna say."  
She looked at Gin."So what do think? You know a bit about him, make your choice."  
Gin scratched the back of his head, obviously not liking the situation he was in."I say we give him a chance at least, so club dismissed, Luca, come with me, the rest, do what you want."  
After everyone left but Gin and Luca, Gin told him to meet him at his dorm in 10 minutes. After have left, Luca went towards his dorm. After walking in, he walked to his bag and started digging for something.  
After a few minutes, out came one of those bulky cameras. Why he kept it after all these years, he'll never know, but now he has a use for it at least. "Should check the film.." He told hisself. It was full, surprisingly. Maybe he could get Gin to produce it for him.  
Luca put a new film in the camera and headed towards Gin's dorm. By the time he got there, have heard Gin working on something. H e knocked on the door a couple of times. Have almost immediately opened the door.  
"Good, your here, come in and in a few minutes we will get going." As Luca walked in the room, he looked around and noticed all the pictures, news articles, and other things concerning photography. "Your decicated, I'll give you that." He told Gin."Thanks, I try to be at least." Gin replied.  
"Hey, I know he just met an hour ago, but could I ask a favor?"  
"Shoot"  
"I've got this film I need produced, but I don't the equipment to do it, and I have no idea what's on it."  
"A mystery film, eh? Sure, no problem, should be completely done by the weekend."  
"Thanks."  
"No problem."  
After awhile, Gin was ready. "Let's move out!" He told Luca. They both headed down to the courtyard, but neither of them noticed two pairs of eyes on them...  
MIZORE'S POV  
They both left Gin's dorm, and headed outside. Usually Mizore would be stalking Tsukune at this time of day, but she wanted answers, but it seems she wasn't the only one...  
"Where are they going?" Kurumu asked.  
"The courtyard it seems." Mizore told her. It would be a lot easier to watch them outside, especially of they stayed in one place.  
OUTSIDE  
"Ok Luca, were gonna cover Yokai's baseball team. Go up on the stands and get a few good shots, then come down here and get a few."  
Luca merely nodded in agreement.  
"Hurry and follow me" Mizore told her.  
"How you move so quietly is beyond me, I'm barely able to hide like you."  
"Lots of practice."  
They both got in a tree to the right of the stands Luca was in. Now that she got a good look at him, she quickly noticed his built and overall appearance.  
Even among the Yuki-Otako, Luca was unique. His eyes had a serous gaze to them, and the way he stood wasn't arrogant or even cocky, just a slight laziness to it. His hair was slightly longer than most, but not to the point it was out of control. She was gazing so long, trying to identify every detail, that she forgot about Kurumu.  
"Um, hello, you there Mizore?"  
"What?"  
"How long are you gonna stare at the enemy?"  
"Long enough to find anything useful."  
"We'll you do that, ima go find out stuff about him from Gin."  
"And how may I ask do you plan to pull that off?"  
"A woman has her ways." Then Kurumu walked off.  
Mizore turned her attention back to the target at hand, only to see he moved.  
"Damn it, where'd he go?" She whispered in frustration. After looking around she found him in the field.  
She then proceeded to climb down the tree, and hide in a close stand.  
"Well this could be awhile." She told herself. He was waiting or the right moment for every picture, which was great for the newspaper, not great for her. She knew from experience though that with stalking, patience was the key to success.  
KURUMU'S POV  
After walking away, Kurumu quickly found Gin at the top of the stands, watching Luca out of his sight. She decided to go up there and interrogate him.  
"Hey! Gin!" She yelled at him. He looked up, confused, then saw her.  
"Kurumu, what's up?"  
"Mind if I come up there?"  
He laughed and said"Come on up!"  
She climbed through the stands, slowly working her way up to him.  
By the time she finally got up there, she was out of breath!  
"So, Gin, how's asshole doing?"  
"You mean Luca? Kid has got some good photography skills, the way he angles and shoots is perfect!"  
"Oh really? Anything he can't do?"  
"Well he doesn't know how to produce pictures yet, but tonight in gonna show him how with a film he asked me to produce. Has no idea what's on it either, so it'll be fun!"  
"Oh really? Mind if I see them when there done?"  
This question made Gin a little nervous"Well, thats ok with me, but I don't know how Luca would take it, the way you girls have been treating him."  
"Oh come on, I'm just trying to make up for it, pweeease?" She begged  
"Oh, alright, but be careful, there's a lot of breakable stuff in there!"  
"Thanks, oh and by the way, Mizore is coming with me!" Then she ran off.  
"What have I done?" Gin groaned to hisself.  
MIZORE'S POV  
"He's leaving the field, better go find Kurumu." Mizore told herself. As she looked up from her hiding spot, she saw Kurumu racing not 30 feet away from her.  
"Mizore! I have some great news!" She yelled.  
"What?"  
"Kurumu got closer, and whispered "Tonight Luca and Gin are producing a film!"  
"Ok what's so special about that?"  
"It's a film from Luca, and he has no idea what's on it!"  
"So?"  
"Sooo, there may be things on that film that will tell us more about him, what's the saying? A pictures worth a thousand words."  
Now that she thought about it, it was a perfect idea. Question was, would Luca reject them being there?  
"What if Luca doesn't want us there?" Mizore asked her.  
"Gin said he's got it, so lets get ready!"  
"Well this is going better than expected" Mizore thought to herself. She might as well go along with it for now. She and Kurumu ran to the dorms, planning tonight.  
Ok so how was it? I'm kinda still deciding where to go, but it'll be good.  
Review it  
Love it  
Lucarai, out


	4. Chapter 4

Empathy and Hesitation  
I was kinda disappointed that I only got one review last chapter, but ill live.  
Azure flame knight:thanks and I will  
Michealhayate: well you'll learn today!  
Chapter 3  
GIN'S ROOM, 9PM  
It was already late, and Gin and Luca were all but prepared to produce the film. Al of a sudden they heard a knock on the door.  
"Who could that be at this hour?" Luca asked, puzzled.  
"I know who it is, and please keep cool man." Gin told him, heading towards the door.  
As he opened the door, Kurumu was standing there with Mizore behind her. When Luca looked their way with disgust.  
"I hope your ok with this,man, I wasn't thinking when I told them they could come." Gin pleaded his case to him.  
Luca looked away and after a moment of silence said"Your room."  
"Good, since that's settled, you two take a seat while we do this." Gin told the girls."Ok Luca, to start off, we do this..."  
AN HOUR LATER  
MIZORE POV  
After the longest time, the film was nearly finished. They would see just what's on it, any minute.  
"So do you have any idea who took the film?" Mizore asked.  
Luca looked in her direction, with the look of apathy in his eyes that he seemed to always wear when calm.  
"My father."  
"Ah."  
After that everyone remained silent, just starring at the photos, which were blurs, slowing coming into detail.  
There were seven in all, each having some kind of white and blue smudges signifying the area.  
Finally, after five minutes of utter silence, the first picture came into vision. It showed a young Yuki-Otako laughing in a woman's arms, in a place Mizore identified as the snow village.  
"So it seems that this picture is you and what I assume your mother as a child." Gin told Luca.  
Luca slowly walked over to the picture, taking it off the rack, giving it a stare with his eyes showing deep thought...  
LUCA'S POV  
He remembered this day. He remembered it all to well, and it was not one that he cared to recall.  
Any other person would have destroyed the picture, due to what painful memories it triggered, yet he couldn't bring hisself to do it.  
This was the only photo of his mother he had, and risking its destruction wasn't in his agenda.  
His mother was a beautiful woman, having worn a simple white kimono like all the other Yuki-onna, with a warm, loving smile.  
Her hair was a light blue, slightly passing her shoulders, nicely groomed straight down.  
He in the picture wasn't anything special compared to her, though. His blue kimono was roughed up a little, and he was laughing like an idiot in his opinion, anyone he knew now wouldn't believe it was him. So happy. So naive.  
"Luca, the others are finished." Gin said, poking his shoulder to get his attention.  
The first two were his mother and himself playing in the fields. And three others was Luca either sleeping or eating. The last one though, was the most important to him though...  
KURUMU'S POV  
The first few pictures were simple pictures in her opinion, but the last one was special to Luca, she could tell by his body language.  
It was a young man and woman, smiling sitting next to each other, with a young boy sitting between them.  
The boy and woman were the same from the previous pictures, but the man seemed different, for a Yuki-Otako. He was fairly taller than the woman, and had a haircut same as Luca, with the colors being darker.  
He had slight facial hair, that made him seem older than he probably was in reality. His eyes were near marine blue, it seemed all colors except his skin were dark, unusual in there race.  
He had his hand placed on the boy's shoulder, and the woman was leaning on him.  
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Luca was moving slowly towards the picture. By the time he reached it, he slowly grabbed it off it's hangar. He then proceeded to look over at Gin, then told him "Thank you."  
Gin was slightly caught off guard by his sudden words, Kurumu could tell, but none the less he replied "No problem."  
Luca then proceeded to pull off each picture, slowly and carefully as not to rip them, and put them in his folder. "I know it may seem rude, but I need to get to bed, hope you don't mind Gin." He said  
"Hey, that's fine, I'm planning on retiring myself, cya later." Gin assured him.  
"Ok then." Then Luca proceeded out the door.  
MIZORE POV  
She had never seen Lucas's parents before, or even hisself around the village. It was hard to believe, as even though the village was huge everybody knew each other.  
It was unlikely that he was more than a few months older than her, so it couldn't of been before her time. She would need to speak with her mother next trip.  
"Any ideas about him?" Kurumu asked, cutting off her train of thought.  
Mizore put her hand on her chin and stated,"no not really, but my mother maybe able to fill us in."  
"But we won't be able to go there for another month! Do you really want to wait that long?"  
"We don't really have a choice, but until then we can try to find out more."  
"Hm, well I guess your right."  
"Uh , girls?" gin said, interrupting their conversation. They both looked at him, like they were oblivious to his presence till now.  
"Not to interrupt your little stalking plans, but I'm tired and need to go to bed."  
"Fine, thanks for letting us come over." Kurumu thanked him.  
"It's not me you should be thanking, if Luca said no he would of had every right to, but he let you anyway. I haven't known him very long, but he seems ok, so stop riding his ass so hard."  
"Whatever Gin. Good night and all that." Kurumu told him, walking out the door with Mizore.  
"Well I guess we can meet at lunch to talk this over. Good night Kurumu." Mizore told her.  
"Ok, cya later ice queen."  
LUCA'S POV  
It had been a Long time since those pictures were taken. So long it took him awhile to remember. He would put those two pictures in particular in portraits, and the others away.  
He had guesses as why Mizore and Kurumu wanted to be there, Mizore had been following him around for awhile, and Kurumu always gave him the evil eye.  
Luca finally reached his dorm, unlocked it and walked in. He went to sit down at his desk, with pictures in hand.  
He reached in his bag, and pulled out two portraits. He removed the backs of each and placed the pictures inside. He put the one of him and his mother on the desk and his family portrait on his night desk.  
"Well I might as well take a shower." He told himself. He took his shirt off, heading to the bathroom, when he heard a faint squeak. He looked around, then brushed it off, and began taking his pants off, when he heard another squeak, this time even louder.  
"What the hell?"  
He started looking around his little room. No where did he find the source of the noise. Finally he opened his window, and slowly analyzed every detail in his line of sight. After awhile he gave up and closed the window.  
He headed to his medicine cabinet and grabbed the strongest Tylenol he could find, and popped it in his mouth. He swore that this place was making him paranoid.  
Finally he went and cleaned his body in the shower, finishing up and drying off, along with other basic hygiene.  
When he finally laid down to sleep, have starting staring at the family portrait. It had been awhile since he let a smile like he had in that picture come on his face, yet back then things were so simple.  
Finally he turned off his lamp and went to sleep.  
NEXT MORNING  
He woke up that morning, to see the ceiling once more. He grabbed his supplies and camera, then headed to class.  
When he got there, the class was slightly loud with conversation. He sat in his usual seat, to be greeted by Tsukune.  
"Morning, Luca how are you this morning?"  
"...good. You?"  
"I'm doing well."  
After there little conversation, class had just begun. The whole period went smoothly, for Yokai at least.  
As soon as class ended, everyone went and left class, where they headed to gym.  
It was pretty normal as well, where boys and girls separated, Moka,Kurumu,Mizore, and Yukari heading in one direction, while Tsukune, Gin, and Luca headed in the other.  
"All right guys, we got a special treat for you today. We're gonna play volleyball against the girls today for the whole class period, only rules are is stay on your side, and behave. Move out!" The head coach shouted to them all.  
"Yeah! Come on Gin and Luca, lets go against Moka and the others!" Tsukune shouted.  
"Full of energy today, isn't he?" Gin laughed, patting Luca on the shoulder.  
"He seems like it doesn't he?" Luca replied.  
"Humph, yea, come on, lets not keep them waiting."  
When they got to the field, everybody but them were there, with Yukari cheer leading for Tsukune, making it even teams.  
"All right then, lets get this started!" Tsukune shouted, serving the ball from the back.  
It went over the net, right where Kurumu easily shot it back over. Gin spiked it back to the girl's side, where Mizore was able to set it up for Moka, who nearly sent it over the line, only for Luca to shoot it back over.  
It went like this for a good few minutes, until Gin slammed the ball in front of the girl's net.  
"Yeah! One of five right there!" Gin bragged.  
Kurumu gave him her infamous face of rage, while Moka was trying to calm her down. Mizore, like usual, simply analyzed the while situation.  
"Come here you guys." Mizore told the two girls. When they came over, Kurumu asked"What is it ice queen?"  
She pointed to Luca and said" see how he leans to the right? Try to aim on his left and this will be child's play."  
They all nodded there heads in agreement then went back to formation.  
Luca was serving this time, and he sent it right in the middle. Every one went for it, nearly knocking there asses out.  
"The serve is just as important as the counter." Luca mocked them.  
2-0  
MIZORE'S POV  
Defeat was one thing to Mizore. Humiliation was another. One thing was sure to her though, Luca Kyokan would taste defeat by her hand.  
It was still Luca's serve, but that could against him.  
"Just hit the damn ball!" Kurumu yelled at Luca.  
"Fine." Luca complied. He shot it over, but he was keeping it close to the net.  
Mizore was quick to counter his serve, barely getting it where Kurumu could hit it. Kurumu shot it to the side hard, knocking Gin down hard AND gained a point in the process.  
2-1  
Mizore was waiting for Luca's cockiness turn into surprise, but was disappointed to find him give a sly smile. "This should be fun." He told her. This made Mizore only madder.  
"It won't be for long, you prick." She told him, serving it over. The shot went high into the air, making all the guys look hard for it.  
Tsukune was the first to see it, unfortunately it was closer to Gin than hisself.  
"Gin!"  
"I see it!"  
Gin used his shoulder to barely shoot it over, which Moka easily countered. Luca hit it back, but Mizore was quick to return the favor, earning the girls another point.  
2-2  
"Not so easy, is it tough guy." Kurumu mocked Luca.  
LUCA'S POV  
Luca put both hands on his knees, and had a hard look on his face, deep on thought.  
"I never said that this was gonna be an easy win, but don't think this is gonna be any better on you." He told them, getting out of his stance.  
"Heh, we'll see if you can hold yourself to that!" Kurumu said, trying to agitate them. The ball was served, and the game had only just begun.  
30 MINUTES LATER  
Both teams were tired and sweaty, but neither of them wanted to give in to the other. Majority of other games were already over, and they had gathered to watch this final serve.  
"I'll give you this, you've kept me on my toes." Luca told the girls, fatigue obvious on his face.  
"Your not to bad yourself." Kurumu replied.  
The girls had the ball, but it was still anyone's game. Finally Moka served the ball into the air. Tsukune set Gin up for a shot, which he took fiercely. When the ball reached the other side, Kurumu shot it back over, only to be sent back by Luca.  
Mizore jumped slightly, and slapped it back, aiming for Luca. It would of succeeded if not for Gin's quick thinking. Gin punched the ball, sending it spinning in the air. Tsukune hit it with his elbow, sending it back the air forward a little.  
Luca jumped up to the ball, and using both hands, slammed it into the other side, earning them the winning point.  
5-4  
"Yeah! I knew we could do it!" Gin said, grabbing each of the guys around his arm.  
"Gin...can't...breath..." Tsukune mumbled, clearly losing air.  
"Oh? Sorry bout that." Gin apologized, letting him go.  
"Damn it, we were so close!" Kurumu screamed, fidgeting.  
"Oh well, we had fun, that's all that matters." Moka said, patting Kurumu on the back.  
Mizore, though, just simply walked up to the net and gestured for Luca to go to her, which he complied.  
"What is it?" He asked her.  
"Three weeks from now were going to the snow village as a vacation. We were wondering if you'd come with us."  
This question shocked him greatly. Two days ago she hated his guts, and now after a game if volleyball she was inviting him to a vacation to there homeland.  
After a brief moment of thought, he sighed and told her "Why not?"  
"Good. Once we figure out where were gonna stay I'll let you know."  
"Actually that shouldn't be a problem since I'm going, I still own the house I lived in there and I have a key."  
"Great, well that's taken care of, cya next period." She told him, putting her lollipop back in her mouth, and walking away.  
That Yuki-Onna sure messed with his mind. He figured he wouldn't have any problem finding his old home, but the locals may not take kindly to a deserter returning home.  
Technically he had no choice in the matter, but that was besides the point. Yet he said he would, so it's just probably be best if he kept his head down during the visit.  
"Yo, Luca, class is over, Time for lunch!" Tsukune yelled, waving in his direction.  
"Fine."  
LUNCHROOM  
Things were going pretty normal. Yea Saizo was back in class but he avoided there group so there wasn't any issues about it.  
Lunch was simple, with everyone eating there preferred meals.  
"So,is there any forms I have to fill out for this trip?" Luca asked Mizore.  
"No, since your a member of the Newspaper club you'll go as a member of the group."  
"Ok, so how long is this trip gonna be?"  
"Three days."  
"Dang Luca, excited to go on this trip? We rarely hear you talk this much at all." Yukari asked.  
"It's not really excitement, just trying to be prepared."  
"So guys, where we gonna stay while we're there?" Kurumu asked, jumping into the conversation.  
Luca looked over at Mizore and asked "Didn't you tell them? All of us are staying at my place. I even hired a clean crew to fix it up four days before we get there."  
"Really? What's your house like Luca?" Tsukune asked.  
"Big and formal, really. My father told me that the Manor has been in the family name for years, so it's kinda old school."  
To this statement Mizore paused and asked "Manor? So it's your home that's owned up near the center of the village?"  
"Yep, that's the one."  
To this Gin slapped Luca on the back and said "So my partner in photography lives in a haunted house? Only you Luca, only you."  
Luca looked puzzled at this, and claimed that only because it hasn't been inhabited in 10 years and its big doesn't mean it's haunted.  
"Wait, you said you lived the village at the age of seven? Then just how old are you?" Moka asked.  
"Well that all depends, what is today's date?" He answered with a question.  
"January four-teen two-thousand thirdteen." Yukari answered.  
"Hm, well that means since yesterday I've been seventeen."  
"Wait, yesterday was your birthday?" Tsukune asked.  
"Yep."  
"Why didn't you say anything?" Kurumu asked.  
"To me it's just another day, and I'd appreciate it if we keep it that way, my birth is nothing to celebrate about." Luca told them, getting slightly serious.  
"Fine, it's just not normal to not want to celebrate your birthday." Yukari told him.  
"Whatever, so what's the plan for the newspaper club today?" He asked, getting off the subject.  
"We're gonna print off this week's story and sell it in the morning." Gin told him.  
"Cool."  
"Ok, guys, You'll see Mizore and I next period, we got things to finish up." Kurumu told everyone, pulling Mizore with her.  
"Cya next period then." Tsukune waved at them.  
"Well guys, Luca and I are going scoop hunting for a little bit, cya at the club." Gin said, gesturing for Luca to follow.  
"Well that's ok, Moka and I will see you guys later." Tsukune told them.  
10 MINUTES LATER  
After Luca retrieved his camera, they started walking around the  
campus, looking for anything news worthy. Nothing big was happening, so they just strolled around.  
"So, Gin, what do you do when there isn't anything for the club?" Luca asked, making conversation.  
To this Gin gave a wide grin, and told him "Follow me, ill show you."  
They were heading towards the dorms, Luca realized that much, as to why he couldn't figure out. All of a sudden Gin got in a sneaky stance, and motioned for Luca to do the same. Now they were heading in the girl's dorm area, as to why was an even greater mystery to him.  
Eventually they reached a ledge to a roof, and Gin climbed up it, and offered his hand to Luca.  
"Just what could your hobby have to do with the girl's dorms?" He asked, accepting his offer.  
"Just hold on, we're almost there." Gin told him. They sneaked to a ledge with a good view of the right building.  
"Get your camera ready and aim center of the building over there." Gin told him, doing the same.  
As soon as Luca looked through his lens, he was in quite a shock. What he saw was the female student body undressing to go in the showers.  
Luca looked at gin and gave him a look, not that he noticed, as he was cackling and taking pictures rapidly. He poked Gin on his side, trying to get his attention.  
"What is -" Gin was cut off by being frozen, now laying on the side.  
Luca got up and started heading for the ladder, and headed to the academy.  
"That idiot." Luca growled. He honestly didn't care if Gin peeps or not, but pulling him down with him didn't settle well.  
Well, maybe he could. Find something to do up at the school, the final class of the day wasn't far off anyway.  
MIZORE'S POV  
Honest to god Mizore had no idea where Kurumu was taking her. By the looks of it they were going to her dorm.  
They finally reached the door, Kurumu had her key ready. She unlocked the door and told her to come in. She closed it behind her, and looked at Mizore with a gleam.  
"We now have a perfect way to find all about Luca!" She screamed.  
"And what would that be?" Mizore asked.  
"We're staying at his old home, that's gotta have some clues or something as about him!" Kurumu told her, acting as if it was obvious.  
To be honest Mizore felt stupid for not thinking this out when he told her that they would be staying at his house.  
It was perfect in theory. Even if they could only look in the room they were staying in, they could find something in there.  
"Yeah! Then we'll figure out just who this guy really is!" Kurumu fist pumped in the air.  
"Yeah..." Mizore said. Now that she thought about it, there were ill rumors about who lived in the Manor, so what they were getting into could be dangerous.  
Why would Luca's father leave such a big home, to live a poor man's life, where is his mother, many questions rose inside Mizore's head, few with answers.  
"So we just have to wait a month, and we'll be there!" Kurumu shouted.  
"Yeah, but lets watch him until then, maybe we will notice something." Mizore told her.  
Kurumu nodded in agreement. One thing Mizore could say, this was gonna be a long month. They headed off to class.  
LUCA'S POV  
"Aachoo!" Luca sneezed, which was odd. He looked around, looking for anything that would of caused it. Finding nothing, he went on with his walk.  
As he approached the school, he remembered that the next class was the one he hated. Math. That teacher was messed up, anyone could tell, and it seemed he was her new target.  
Hopefully she would ignore him this time, even though he knew it was a longshot. Maybe if he had the others crowd around his desk in class, she wouldn't see him. He approached the class door, and you could hear the noise already.  
As he opened the door, the teacher wasn't even there yet, and the newspaper club was surrounding a desk. It was a good day for him. At least it would of been, had he of been there ten seconds quicker.  
"Mr. Kyokan!" The infamous math teacher yelled. Luca stopped in his tracks, cursing hisself.  
"Ma'am." He said through his teeth.  
"Why are you not in your seat?" She asked.  
"I was heading in that direction."  
"Hm, well how about this, Miss Shirayuki! Please go to the desk behind you, I would like to keep Mr. Kyokan in the front row, where I can see him."  
Mizore got up and went to the back seat, and Luca took a seat. As crazy as this woman was, she still had authority over them.  
"All right class, lets begin." She told them all, clapping her hands.  
The class went on, with Kurumu struggling, Yukari easily finishing up, Tsukune and Moka going at the usual rate, Mizore playing in her notebook, and Luca reading a book called "How to interact with different people."  
Finally, the bell rang, signifying that class was over.  
"Finally." Luca thought, putting his book away and getting up. When he was nearly at the door, the teacher had called him to her desk.  
"Ma'am." He asked her.  
"You know, Mr. Kyokan, I don't take tardiness well."  
"I wasn't late, I was just looking for a good seat."  
"Well,now you won't have to worry about that anymore, because the seat you set in today is your assigned seat."  
After a short silence, Luca replied with a sigh and told her "Yes Ma'am."  
To this, she chuckled."You know, any other student would of argued or begged me not to do that, yet you simply accept that. Why?"  
"It's easier that way."  
"Hm, well then, see you tomorrow in class, Mr. Kyokan."  
20 MINUTES LATER  
As soon as Luca entered the club meeting, Gin asked him "So what's your punishment?"  
Luca looked at him weird for a moment, before it registered what he was talking about.  
"I just have to sit in the front seat, it's no big deal."  
"Phew, good to know, we're gonna need you for next weeks scoop."  
"Ok, so what now?"  
"Well since we've already sold this week's issue, we do nothing but relax, but since we've got a trip coming up, we plan on discussing that."  
Luca sat down and rested his head on his arms. "So what do we need to talk about?"  
"Well we need to see which rooms we stay in first." Tsukune answered.  
"Well there is only like four rooms to sleep in, so decide."  
Luca brought out his laptop and showed everyone pictures of the inside of the house.  
"I'm gonna stay alone in my old room, if that's fine with you guys." He told them.  
"It's your house." Gin answered.  
"Hey, the girls call this big room, is that ok?" Kurumu said, ignoring anything else.  
"The West wing?There's a bathroom in there, so it would be perfect for you guys."  
"Is there any other bathrooms?" Tsukune asked.  
"There's one down the hall in the east wing where I'm at, so it'd probably be in your best interest to get the room next to mine."  
"Okay then, Gin what do you think about this room?" Tsukune showed him the picture.  
"It'll be perfect." He told him.  
"Okay, since that's settled, what's next?"  
"We already planned out what to do, what about the restaurants?" Moka asked.  
To this question, Mizore and Luca laughed. "It's a Village, we cook our own meals." Mizore told them.  
"Don't worry, I've learned to cook over the course of life." Luca went on.  
"Well since that's all settled, let's call it a day." Gin told them, grabbing his materials and heading out.  
"It'll be a few hours before time to turn in, wanna go do something?" Tsukune asked the group.  
"Sure." Yukari told him.  
"Anything with you Tsukune." Kurumu told him, rubbing her chest all over him.  
"Come on, quit it Kurumu!" Moka yelled at her, trying to pull her off.  
"Well what are you doing, Luca?" Tsukune asked him, breathing hard after another near death experience.  
"Explore." He told them.  
"Why don't all go on a walk? We need to get him used to the school grounds since he's our photographer." Mizore told them all.  
"Yeah, a casual walk would be great for me." Tsukune said, jumping at the offer.  
"It's fine with us." Kurumu said, speaking for the others.  
"I'm really just gonna explore the forest a bit, my last walk was interrupted." Luca said, unconsciously touching the scar on his right breast.  
"Well hopefully nothing like that wont happen with all of us there." Moka assured him.  
"Let's stop talking about it and go do it! First one to the door gets to hold Tsukune's hand!" Yukari yelled, running out the door.  
"Like I'm gonna let you and your pancake chest win!" Kurumu yelled, running after her.  
"Hey no fair guys!" Moka cried, chasing after them.  
Tsukune raised his hand as if to object, but sighed and gave up.  
"They give you a full plate, don't they?" Luca mused.  
"You don't know the half of it." Tsukune whined, sulking.  
"Well I'm walking my lazy ass down there, you both are welcome to join me." Luca half laughed to Mizore and Tsukune.  
They both looked at each other, shrugged and followed after him.  
THE COURTYARD.  
Tsukune led the way, with everyone else talking behind him, but he didn't mind, as he was talking with Moka.  
"So you never told us, where did you live after the village?" Mizore asked Luca, hands in her jacket.  
"We moved to America, in Georgia, where I lived for three years, then my father died, so I saved up for two and a half years then moved back in Japan, then I lived in an apartment in Tokyo until I came here." Luca explained.  
"You've moved around a bit, haven't you?" Mizore mused him.  
"I guess you could say that."  
All of a sudden they noticed rustling in the bushes, and everyone took there defensive statures.  
Out of the bushes came a woman with long black hair in pony tails, wearing a police outfit.  
Luca noticed that everyone almost instantly dropped there guards when they saw who it was.  
"Oh hey Ruby, what are you doing out here?" Tsukune asked.  
"It's a long story, even longer than the last one, you see the headmaster had noticed the amount of fights in the forest and so..." The one named Ruby went on, and Luca quickly realized that she was a friend of the newspaper club.  
As she went on with her rant, she eventually noticed Luca out of the corner of her eye and asked "So who's the new guy?"  
"This is Luca Kyokan, the newest member of the newspaper club!" Yukari replied.  
To this Ruby got closer and started eyeing him, with a curious expression on her face.  
Finally she clapped her hands together, and with a smile said,"You're that Yuki-Otako the Headmaster said to keep an eye on!"  
While everybody else except Mizore did an anime fall, Luca gave her a weird look.  
"God damn it, what is the big deal over me being here!?" Luca demanded in a frustrated tone.  
"You being here can prove that the Yuki-Onna don't need to protect you everywhere you go, as the Headmaster is trying to prove this through you to the Snow-Priestess." Ruby replied.  
This took the whole group back. "So your saying the reason I'm here is just to prove a point?"  
"Well when you put it that way..."  
"Well I guess I shouldn't really care honestly. As long as I'm not put in danger, I won't have to anyway."  
Ruby was shocked momentarily, but smiled at the fact that no problems had come from there discussion.  
"Well any who I gotta get back on patrol, cya guys later!" Ruby told them, waving goodbye.  
"What a little group you have here, Tsukune." Luca chuckled, arms crossed.  
"You just barely scratched the surface.." Tsukune told him, looking relieved .  
"Looking up at the evening sun, Luca realized just how late it really was. "Well I'm going back, see you guys tomorrow." He told them, waving goodbye.  
After everyone said there goodbyes, Luca went in the opposite direction of his original destination.  
Finally, he reached the cliff, where he was last time. He got on his knees near the edge, and pulled his hoodie sleeve all the way back.  
He put his hand out, then brought his ice claw out. Then all of a sudden, parts of the claw started falling off, eventually forming into a more natural looking arm of ice, with claws know on the ends of the fingers.  
"Been a long time since I've seen this arm.." Luca said to hisself.  
He put his clawed index finger into the dirt on the ground, then wrote in the ground, "Final promise."  
This was the last promise he would make to his own being, to go there and face the music, to put an end to all things, to, to go home...  
He flexed his arm, and the armor like ice broke, dissolving into the air.  
He got up, put his sleeve back, and started walking back to the dorms. Why he had just done what he did, he barely knew hisself. Maybe it was his may of saying he was bound to walk this path, or simply too selfish to stay away.  
In exactly twenty-eight days though, he knew for a fact he would be the one place he would never go back, not for Mizore,Tsukune, or even his own reasons. His whole reason was to honor the one wish he had been running from half his life.  
"I'm going, mother..."  
So how was it? I know it's been FOREVER and I was too lazy to fix my first note, but I would like to make a shout out to all the others who have been supporting this story, especially Mad-Dog170.  
Love it  
Review it  
Lucarai, out.


	5. Chapter 5

Empathy and Hesitation  
Ok, so last chapter came late, but was bigger, so that was good...  
Anyways, were getting to the good stuff! Prepare for some crazy things to go down!  
Mad-Dog170: glad you liked it. And you won't be disappointed in this chapter.  
Horace Pinker: good sir, I will kindly go ask you to either make sense or STFU.  
Chapter 4  
The month went by faster than any of them expected. Right after regular classes the newspaper club would be heading to the snow village.  
It was gym class, and everyone was doing today's workout and exercises. The Girls were playing basketball inside while the guys were outside having a free day.  
LUCA'S POV  
It was shocking, the day was halfway over, and yet even though he had prepared everything ahead, packed up and even put money back  
for this trip, but he still couldn't shake the feeling.  
He wasn't sure whether it was a feeling of unease or worry, but luckily no one else had noticed it.  
At the moment Luca was making a small ice sculpture of an angel with his "hardened" ice claws. He had done this as a hobby before, yet only recently re picked it up.  
He remembered the first time the others had first saw him do this, as they flooded him with praise, yet in all honesty it didn't faze Luca at all. It wasn't out of spite, just practiced apathy.  
They all by this time realized this, so no one took it the wrong way.  
"So, when are we gonna have that practice session you were so damn determined to have with me Luca?" Gin asked Luca, standing proud and tall.  
Luca looked at him for a minute and then stood up. "Might as well be now, since very seldom do we have the opportunity." Luca responded  
Luca pulled up his left arm sleeve, forming his ice claws, then transforming it into its hardened state. Now both arms had been hardened.  
"All righty then, lets see just how good that little technique does for you." Gin mocked ,cracking his knuckles before transforming into his werewolf state.  
Luca got into a defensive stance, and motioned for him to come on. Gin quickly jumped for his left side, but Luca blocked it with his arm.  
"That's some hard ice you got there, buddy. What gave you inspiration for such a form?"  
"A friend." Luca then pushed him back and struck with his other arm, missing completely.  
"You know, those arms are pretty mobile for ice." Gin commented.  
"Through much practice, I learned the correct sizes for the joints."  
"Well isn't that dandy."  
Luca jumped into the air, and made a slash at Gin's forearm, yet missed again.  
"That may be good in terms of battle, but your way too slow to beat someone with my speed."  
"Well let us see what all that speed is knocked out to be."  
Gin quickly made for Luca's sides, yet each barely being blocked. After a short while, Luca noticed a short decrease in Gin's speed, but before he could do anything about it, Gin withdrew his attack.  
"Your good with your defense, I'll give you that. But know this, i doubt it you'll outlast me."  
Luca chuckled and said"Maybe I won't have to."  
To this Gin looked puzzled, but pursued his assault none the less. The first attack was blocked by Luca's arm, as was the next and so on. It went like this for a short while, until Luca struck Gin's chest area , and knocked him back with a punch.  
"H-how did you match my speed?" Gin asked, getting up from the ground.  
"I didn't, I waited until you tired down to my speed, then struck." Luca explained, releasing his hardened ice. He walked over to Gin and offered his hand.  
Gin looked at him for a minute, before accepting his offer and transforming back into his human form.  
"Tie?" Luca asked.  
"Tie." Gin laughed.  
As they were walking back to the main group, they were having small talk about this and that.  
"Seems you're getting soft,Luca."  
"Keep on, and I'll show you soft, pup."  
"Hey, I'm just kiddin' man."  
"I know."  
After a small chuckle, they finally reached the main group. The head coach was telling everyone that class was over, and to head to the showers.  
Gin and Luca met up with Tsukune, and headed in that direction.  
THE SHOWERS  
"So you got any marks?" Gin asked Luca, showering his head.  
"Not many, just this one across the chest, I got a tattoo below my neck."  
Fully around his collar bone, Luca showed Gin a spiked design tattoo.  
"Huh, since when did you get inked?" Gin asked him.  
"I was young and stupid, I thought being a teenager made me a man." Luca explained, finishing up his shower.  
"Ever thought about removing it?" Tsukune asked.  
Luca looked over at him and half screamed, "You crazy? That shit hurts!"  
"Okay, okay, I didn't think about that." Tsukune defended hisself.  
"Hmph, well whatever, I'm out." Luca told them, grabbing a towel. He headed to his locker and grabbed his regular clothes, his black hoodie, and a life saver so he wouldn't melt.  
After he got dressed he headed off to math. Scary as it was to think about, he had hoped and prayed that this would be the one day she ignored him.  
He was one of the first inside class, the others being the girls. He sat in his assigned seat, and set his materials to the side, then sitting his head on his arm.  
After a short while, the rest of the class showed up, and Mrs Kagome was ready to start class.  
"Okay class, since today is the last day before break, I'll keep it easy, socialize this class period, but keep it down." Mrs Kagome told the class, to which they all looked up in surprise.  
Luca wasn't complaining though, as he grabbed his finances out of his bag, and started going over the finer details of the trip.  
After what seemed a lifetime of numbers, He looked up at the clock to see there was only fifteen minutes left in class.  
Looking behind him, the newspaper club was in there usual conversations and arguments. It amazed him how people who could argue as much as they did, be closer than family.  
He knew they considered him a part of there little group, but it wouldn't take a genius to see there was mistrust between Luca and the female body of the club.  
He never got along with women much, but it seemed a mind game was being played here. That was one of the main reasons Luca stayed around, but over time other things had gave him incentive.  
"You know better than to get close to anybody." He thought. Gin was right. He had gotten soft. And he knew soft meant dead for him.  
"I better get smart about this, or I won't survive the first day of this trip."  
Almost as quickly as the words left his mouth, the bell rang and he quickly packed up and got the hell outta there.  
As he headed to his dorm for his bags, he noticed that the whole student body was planning on leaving.  
He fought through the crowd, and finally reached his room. After grabbing his luggage, he headed off to the bus, where he would meet up with the others.  
"This is gonna be interesting..."  
AT THE BUS  
When Luca reached the bus, everybody was trying to pack up. He halfway smirked at the scene before him, Kurumu trying to tie down all her luggage.  
"Having fun there, Madam Bimbo?" Luca asked.  
Kurumu looked down at him, then flipped him off and went back to tying the luggage.  
He walked up to the bus door, where the creepy bus driver gave him a thumbs up as he walked to the seats.  
He saw that most of the girls was there, but Gin, Tsukune, and Moka were all missing.  
Luca went and sat down a seat in front of Kurumu and Mizore,looking about the window with his head laying on his arm.  
MINUTES LATER  
Finally he saw Tsukune walking up to the bus, Moka and Gin in tow.  
"What took you so long?" Luca asked the trio.  
Moka sighed at the thought of what happened, then looked at Luca and said "We almost lost Gin's camera.", and took a seat.  
Luca gave a weird look at them, but eventually decided it wasn't worth the fuss.  
"Well it seems that all of you are here, so I'm gonna get us a move-on." The driver told them inn his creepy voice.  
The bus started moving, and they were all on there way to the snow village.  
During the ride, Luca felt someone poking his side. He looked behind his seat, to see Kurumu continuing to poke him, until he caught her attention.  
"What is it Kurumu?" Luca asked.  
"Why are you so quite today? I know you don't talk a lot but still."  
He turned back around, and still had the same look on his face. "I guess I just have some things on my mind." He eventually replied.  
Looking back at Kurumu, Luca noticed that Mizore was asleep by the window next to her. Now, getting a good look at her, he could say that she truly was unique, even for a Yuki-Onna. She wasn't like the others, putting on a fake smile and pretending to be somebody she wasn't.  
Strong-willed and compassionate, if there were more women like Mizore in the village, he wouldn't of had to leave the village. Luca was so engrossed in his thoughts, that he didn't notice the weird looks Kurumu and Yukari were giving him.  
"Hello, Luuuuuca, you there?" Yukari asked, waving her wand in his face. Luca blinked a few times, cursing at the fact he let his mind drift. "Yeah, I'm fine, just got a lot on the mind." He told them, turning around. He looked out the window, and realized that they were close to the grabbed all his belongings, getting ready for when the bus stops.  
Finally, the bus stopped and Luca was the first to head out. The bus driver snickered and told him"Enjoy the time home, kid"  
Luca looked at him for a second, then turned his head back. "This isn't my home. It's just a place where I have a house." The bus driver just laughed as Luca got off the bus.  
It was dusk at the village, the sun was still falling on the horizon. Luca looked at the village, the place he left years ago. Everything was as he remembered, every little detail. He put his hand out, and let a single snowflake fall in his palm. Luca gave it a platonic look, then let it fall.  
"Every thing is the same." He said aloud.  
Eventually everybody was off the bus, and it drove off. Luca turned and looked at them, all happy and in bliss, being together. For a moment, not even long enough for someone to take noticed, he smiled with them.  
Eventually, after everybody was finally ready, he called out to them. "This way! It's at least half a mile up the walkway, so we need to move."  
Everybody started following him into the village. They all started having conversations while they were walking, and Gin eventually walked up to Luca and started talking.  
"Quite a place to live, ain't it?" He asked, giving there surroundings a look. Luca laughed a little, and replied "Just wait until we get further in the village. That's where the real sites are."  
He felt someone tugging on his arm, and he looked to see Mizore. In a kimono. It shouldn't of surprised him like it did, as everyone native to the village did.  
"What is it,Mizore?" He asked her. "When we get there, I plan on unpacking, then heading over to see my parents, and I'll probably stay the night."  
"Fine by me. We're almost there anyway, here is a key to the house in case were not there when you get back." He told her, handing over a silver key.  
Slight surprise was on Mizore's face, but she took it none the less. They had small talk about how things are around the village, nothing important, just small things. Eventually, they reached Luca's house.  
What they were looking at was a three story house, with a large chimney on the side of it. The while group save Mizore was shocked by the size, despite the fact they saw pictures of the inside.  
"Well, let's get inside, shall we?" Luca told them, opening the door. When they walked inside, it was dark inside. Luca put his back to the wall, and headed to the right side of the wall.  
Eventually all the lights in the lower part of the house turned on. There was a large kitchen with the island next to the cooking area, with a five-piece living room outside the cooking area.  
There were two doors leading to other parts of the house, and a set of stairs leading up on the upper parts of the house.  
Luca finally walked upstairs like the house was nothing special, and eventually everyone followed suite.  
"The big room the girls chose is down that way, Gin, the room you'll be sharing with Tsukune is on the other side of the hall." Luca told them all, before entering his room.  
He was too tired and had too much on his mind, that Luca set his things down and went to lay down on his bed. His head was throbbing from stress, but it seemed that nobody would notice them tonight.  
He was extra careful with the timing and route, making sure they'd go unnoticed. At this point and time, though, all he could do is pray and hope for the best. His eyes closed, and he eventually found sleep.  
THE GIRL'S ROOM  
Mizore and the others had quickly unpacked, and they sat down to talk a bit after the trip.  
"Who would of thought that Luca would own such a large house! I'm surprised after all these years they still consider it his." Yukari said.  
"In the snow village, when property is sold every direct generation after the owner has right to sell or keep the house. Since there isn't any taxes after purchase, they could own a house and never live in it." Mizore explained.  
"It seems to complicated for me, really." Moka said.  
As they were talking, Mizore noticed out of the corner of her eye Kurumu hunting around for something. It didn't matter though, she had to leave.  
"I'm gonna go see my parents, see you guys in the morning." She told them and walked out.  
She left the house, and started heading to her parents. If it wasn't for the street lights, she doubts she could find her way.  
It was a nice, peaceful time of year in the village. She winds weren't roaring, and there was just enough sunlight during the day to have a nice touch to the cold.  
Eventually Mizore reached her house. She knocked on it, and waited for someone to come to the door. Her mother came and opened the door, the same smile on her face.  
"Mizore, you're home! Come on inside." She told her daughter. They walked into the living room, where her mother had tea ready.  
"So, how's school going dear?" She asked, sitting down.  
"Things are well, we received a new member in the newspaper club." Mizore told her, sitting down as well.  
"Oh really, tell me, what's this person like?"  
"That's kinda the thing I want to ask you about. He's a Yuki-Otako." Mizore said.  
Her mother's look of happiness turned into confusion. "Really? Well what is his name?"  
"Kyokan. Luca Kyokan." Mizore told her, and a heavy feeling took the room.  
Her mother looked shocked for a second, then greatly nervous. She looked her child dead in the eye, worry filled in her own.  
"Mizore, there are secrets in this village. Secrets that are about to haunt us." Her mother explained.  
Mizore couldn't understand where her mother was going with this. It didn't make sense. Whatever she was talking about, seemed important though.  
"Did Luca ever speak of his parents? Specifically his mother?"  
"Not really, whenever he did it was mainly about his father. I saw pictures of them though."  
"Mizore, I don't think you or even he knows who his mother is now."  
With a look of confusion, Mizore sat up slightly, attention caught.  
"Mizore, his mother is..."  
CLIFFHANGERS. Muhuhahahaha!  
Authors note:god it's been forever. With high school and sickness together, I barely have time for myself. Luckily I still have a little time to write, so I'm gonna finish this story at least, maybe even write a Fairy Tail Fanfiction OC later. We'll see.  
Thanks for reading the story I know I did the unforgivable, putting such an ending to this chapter. Hopefully you'll be patient for the next chapter. *hint* another familiar OC to come****

Empathy and Hesitation  
Ok, so last chapter came late, but was bigger, so that was good...  
Anyways, were getting to the good stuff! Prepare for some crazy things to go down!  
Mad-Dog170: glad you liked it. And you won't be disappointed in this chapter.  
Horace Pinker: good sir, I will kindly go ask you to either make sense or STFU.  
Chapter 4  
The month went by faster than any of them expected. Right after regular classes the newspaper club would be heading to the snow village.  
It was gym class, and everyone was doing today's workout and exercises. The Girls were playing basketball inside while the guys were outside having a free day.  
LUCA'S POV  
It was shocking, the day was halfway over, and yet even though he had prepared everything ahead, packed up and even put money back  
for this trip, but he still couldn't shake the feeling.  
He wasn't sure whether it was a feeling of unease or worry, but luckily no one else had noticed it.  
At the moment Luca was making a small ice sculpture of an angel with his "hardened" ice claws. He had done this as a hobby before, yet only recently re picked it up.  
He remembered the first time the others had first saw him do this, as they flooded him with praise, yet in all honesty it didn't faze Luca at all. It wasn't out of spite, just practiced apathy.  
They all by this time realized this, so no one took it the wrong way.  
"So, when are we gonna have that practice session you were so damn determined to have with me Luca?" Gin asked Luca, standing proud and tall.  
Luca looked at him for a minute and then stood up. "Might as well be now, since very seldom do we have the opportunity." Luca responded  
Luca pulled up his left arm sleeve, forming his ice claws, then transforming it into its hardened state. Now both arms had been hardened.  
"All righty then, lets see just how good that little technique does for you." Gin mocked ,cracking his knuckles before transforming into his werewolf state.  
Luca got into a defensive stance, and motioned for him to come on. Gin quickly jumped for his left side, but Luca blocked it with his arm.  
"That's some hard ice you got there, buddy. What gave you inspiration for such a form?"  
"A friend." Luca then pushed him back and struck with his other arm, missing completely.  
"You know, those arms are pretty mobile for ice." Gin commented.  
"Through much practice, I learned the correct sizes for the joints."  
"Well isn't that dandy."  
Luca jumped into the air, and made a slash at Gin's forearm, yet missed again.  
"That may be good in terms of battle, but your way too slow to beat someone with my speed."  
"Well let us see what all that speed is knocked out to be."  
Gin quickly made for Luca's sides, yet each barely being blocked. After a short while, Luca noticed a short decrease in Gin's speed, but before he could do anything about it, Gin withdrew his attack.  
"Your good with your defense, I'll give you that. But know this, i doubt it you'll outlast me."  
Luca chuckled and said"Maybe I won't have to."  
To this Gin looked puzzled, but pursued his assault none the less. The first attack was blocked by Luca's arm, as was the next and so on. It went like this for a short while, until Luca struck Gin's chest area , and knocked him back with a punch.  
"H-how did you match my speed?" Gin asked, getting up from the ground.  
"I didn't, I waited until you tired down to my speed, then struck." Luca explained, releasing his hardened ice. He walked over to Gin and offered his hand.  
Gin looked at him for a minute, before accepting his offer and transforming back into his human form.  
"Tie?" Luca asked.  
"Tie." Gin laughed.  
As they were walking back to the main group, they were having small talk about this and that.  
"Seems you're getting soft,Luca."  
"Keep on, and I'll show you soft, pup."  
"Hey, I'm just kiddin' man."  
"I know."  
After a small chuckle, they finally reached the main group. The head coach was telling everyone that class was over, and to head to the showers.  
Gin and Luca met up with Tsukune, and headed in that direction.  
THE SHOWERS  
"So you got any marks?" Gin asked Luca, showering his head.  
"Not many, just this one across the chest, I got a tattoo below my neck."  
Fully around his collar bone, Luca showed Gin a spiked design tattoo.  
"Huh, since when did you get inked?" Gin asked him.  
"I was young and stupid, I thought being a teenager made me a man." Luca explained, finishing up his shower.  
"Ever thought about removing it?" Tsukune asked.  
Luca looked over at him and half screamed, "You crazy? That shit hurts!"  
"Okay, okay, I didn't think about that." Tsukune defended hisself.  
"Hmph, well whatever, I'm out." Luca told them, grabbing a towel. He headed to his locker and grabbed his regular clothes, his black hoodie, and a life saver so he wouldn't melt.  
After he got dressed he headed off to math. Scary as it was to think about, he had hoped and prayed that this would be the one day she ignored him.  
He was one of the first inside class, the others being the girls. He sat in his assigned seat, and set his materials to the side, then sitting his head on his arm.  
After a short while, the rest of the class showed up, and Mrs Kagome was ready to start class.  
"Okay class, since today is the last day before break, I'll keep it easy, socialize this class period, but keep it down." Mrs Kagome told the class, to which they all looked up in surprise.  
Luca wasn't complaining though, as he grabbed his finances out of his bag, and started going over the finer details of the trip.  
After what seemed a lifetime of numbers, He looked up at the clock to see there was only fifteen minutes left in class.  
Looking behind him, the newspaper club was in there usual conversations and arguments. It amazed him how people who could argue as much as they did, be closer than family.  
He knew they considered him a part of there little group, but it wouldn't take a genius to see there was mistrust between Luca and the female body of the club.  
He never got along with women much, but it seemed a mind game was being played here. That was one of the main reasons Luca stayed around, but over time other things had gave him incentive.  
"You know better than to get close to anybody." He thought. Gin was right. He had gotten soft. And he knew soft meant dead for him.  
"I better get smart about this, or I won't survive the first day of this trip."  
Almost as quickly as the words left his mouth, the bell rang and he quickly packed up and got the hell outta there.  
As he headed to his dorm for his bags, he noticed that the whole student body was planning on leaving.  
He fought through the crowd, and finally reached his room. After grabbing his luggage, he headed off to the bus, where he would meet up with the others.  
"This is gonna be interesting..."  
AT THE BUS  
When Luca reached the bus, everybody was trying to pack up. He halfway smirked at the scene before him, Kurumu trying to tie down all her luggage.  
"Having fun there, Madam Bimbo?" Luca asked.  
Kurumu looked down at him, then flipped him off and went back to tying the luggage.  
He walked up to the bus door, where the creepy bus driver gave him a thumbs up as he walked to the seats.  
He saw that most of the girls was there, but Gin, Tsukune, and Moka were all missing.  
Luca went and sat down a seat in front of Kurumu and Mizore,looking about the window with his head laying on his arm.  
MINUTES LATER  
Finally he saw Tsukune walking up to the bus, Moka and Gin in tow.  
"What took you so long?" Luca asked the trio.  
Moka sighed at the thought of what happened, then looked at Luca and said "We almost lost Gin's camera.", and took a seat.  
Luca gave a weird look at them, but eventually decided it wasn't worth the fuss.  
"Well it seems that all of you are here, so I'm gonna get us a move-on." The driver told them inn his creepy voice.  
The bus started moving, and they were all on there way to the snow village.  
During the ride, Luca felt someone poking his side. He looked behind his seat, to see Kurumu continuing to poke him, until he caught her attention.  
"What is it Kurumu?" Luca asked.  
"Why are you so quite today? I know you don't talk a lot but still."  
He turned back around, and still had the same look on his face. "I guess I just have some things on my mind." He eventually replied.  
Looking back at Kurumu, Luca noticed that Mizore was asleep by the window next to her. Now, getting a good look at her, he could say that she truly was unique, even for a Yuki-Onna. She wasn't like the others, putting on a fake smile and pretending to be somebody she wasn't.  
Strong-willed and compassionate, if there were more women like Mizore in the village, he wouldn't of had to leave the village. Luca was so engrossed in his thoughts, that he didn't notice the weird looks Kurumu and Yukari were giving him.  
"Hello, Luuuuuca, you there?" Yukari asked, waving her wand in his face. Luca blinked a few times, cursing at the fact he let his mind drift. "Yeah, I'm fine, just got a lot on the mind." He told them, turning around. He looked out the window, and realized that they were close to the grabbed all his belongings, getting ready for when the bus stops.  
Finally, the bus stopped and Luca was the first to head out. The bus driver snickered and told him"Enjoy the time home, kid"  
Luca looked at him for a second, then turned his head back. "This isn't my home. It's just a place where I have a house." The bus driver just laughed as Luca got off the bus.  
It was dusk at the village, the sun was still falling on the horizon. Luca looked at the village, the place he left years ago. Everything was as he remembered, every little detail. He put his hand out, and let a single snowflake fall in his palm. Luca gave it a platonic look, then let it fall.  
"Every thing is the same." He said aloud.  
Eventually everybody was off the bus, and it drove off. Luca turned and looked at them, all happy and in bliss, being together. For a moment, not even long enough for someone to take noticed, he smiled with them.  
Eventually, after everybody was finally ready, he called out to them. "This way! It's at least half a mile up the walkway, so we need to move."  
Everybody started following him into the village. They all started having conversations while they were walking, and Gin eventually walked up to Luca and started talking.  
"Quite a place to live, ain't it?" He asked, giving there surroundings a look. Luca laughed a little, and replied "Just wait until we get further in the village. That's where the real sites are."  
He felt someone tugging on his arm, and he looked to see Mizore. In a kimono. It shouldn't of surprised him like it did, as everyone native to the village did.  
"What is it,Mizore?" He asked her. "When we get there, I plan on unpacking, then heading over to see my parents, and I'll probably stay the night."  
"Fine by me. We're almost there anyway, here is a key to the house in case were not there when you get back." He told her, handing over a silver key.  
Slight surprise was on Mizore's face, but she took it none the less. They had small talk about how things are around the village, nothing important, just small things. Eventually, they reached Luca's house.  
What they were looking at was a three story house, with a large chimney on the side of it. The while group save Mizore was shocked by the size, despite the fact they saw pictures of the inside.  
"Well, let's get inside, shall we?" Luca told them, opening the door. When they walked inside, it was dark inside. Luca put his back to the wall, and headed to the right side of the wall.  
Eventually all the lights in the lower part of the house turned on. There was a large kitchen with the island next to the cooking area, with a five-piece living room outside the cooking area.  
There were two doors leading to other parts of the house, and a set of stairs leading up on the upper parts of the house.  
Luca finally walked upstairs like the house was nothing special, and eventually everyone followed suite.  
"The big room the girls chose is down that way, Gin, the room you'll be sharing with Tsukune is on the other side of the hall." Luca told them all, before entering his room.  
He was too tired and had too much on his mind, that Luca set his things down and went to lay down on his bed. His head was throbbing from stress, but it seemed that nobody would notice them tonight.  
He was extra careful with the timing and route, making sure they'd go unnoticed. At this point and time, though, all he could do is pray and hope for the best. His eyes closed, and he eventually found sleep.  
THE GIRL'S ROOM  
Mizore and the others had quickly unpacked, and they sat down to talk a bit after the trip.  
"Who would of thought that Luca would own such a large house! I'm surprised after all these years they still consider it his." Yukari said.  
"In the snow village, when property is sold every direct generation after the owner has right to sell or keep the house. Since there isn't any taxes after purchase, they could own a house and never live in it." Mizore explained.  
"It seems to complicated for me, really." Moka said.  
As they were talking, Mizore noticed out of the corner of her eye Kurumu hunting around for something. It didn't matter though, she had to leave.  
"I'm gonna go see my parents, see you guys in the morning." She told them and walked out.  
She left the house, and started heading to her parents. If it wasn't for the street lights, she doubts she could find her way.  
It was a nice, peaceful time of year in the village. She winds weren't roaring, and there was just enough sunlight during the day to have a nice touch to the cold.  
Eventually Mizore reached her house. She knocked on it, and waited for someone to come to the door. Her mother came and opened the door, the same smile on her face.  
"Mizore, you're home! Come on inside." She told her daughter. They walked into the living room, where her mother had tea ready.  
"So, how's school going dear?" She asked, sitting down.  
"Things are well, we received a new member in the newspaper club." Mizore told her, sitting down as well.  
"Oh really, tell me, what's this person like?"  
"That's kinda the thing I want to ask you about. He's a Yuki-Otako." Mizore said.  
Her mother's look of happiness turned into confusion. "Really? Well what is his name?"  
"Kyokan. Luca Kyokan." Mizore told her, and a heavy feeling took the room.  
Her mother looked shocked for a second, then greatly nervous. She looked her child dead in the eye, worry filled in her own.  
"Mizore, there are secrets in this village. Secrets that are about to haunt us." Her mother explained.  
Mizore couldn't understand where her mother was going with this. It didn't make sense. Whatever she was talking about, seemed important though.  
"Did Luca ever speak of his parents? Specifically his mother?"  
"Not really, whenever he did it was mainly about his father. I saw pictures of them though."  
"Mizore, I don't think you or even he knows who his mother is now."  
With a look of confusion, Mizore sat up slightly, attention caught.  
"Mizore, his mother is..."  
CLIFFHANGERS. Muhuhahahaha!  
Authors note:god it's been forever. With high school and sickness together, I barely have time for myself. Luckily I still have a little time to write, so I'm gonna finish this story at least, maybe even write a Fairy Tail Fanfiction OC later. We'll see.  
Thanks for reading the story I know I did the unforgivable, putting such an ending to this chapter. Hopefully you'll be patient for the next chapter. *hint* another familiar OC to come****


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